The Hypocrisy of Matt Gaetz Makes Republicans Look Foolish

Florida Republican Congressman Matt Gaetz spearheaded the successful effort to remove Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) from the position of Speaker of the House of Representatives. Regardless of the vote in the upcoming new speaker election, I think it’s instructive to ask how Gaetz was able to achieve what he did.

Only seven other Republicans supported Gaetz’s move against McCarthy. That is 4% of the Republican membership of the House of Representatives. So how did Gaetz get the votes to remove McCarthy? Simple: Self-centered to the extreme, Gaetz sold out the image of the Republican Party by jumping in bed with extreme liberal Democrats. 

Gaetz’s co-conspirators include Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.), Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) and Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.). When a Republican is working closely with the Squad, you know he has lost his way in the dark shadows of self-aggrandizement.

Every Democrat in the House voted with Gaetz. Perhaps more accurately, Gaetz voted with every Democrat. That is how he succeeded.

In a Washington Post op-ed, former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich nailed what Gaetz has become: “Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) is an anti-Republican who has become actively destructive to the conservative movement.”

Gingrich went on to call for Gaetz’s removal from the Republican Conference.

The hypocrisy of Gaetz is so blatant that it would be laughable if it were not true. The stated justification for removing McCarthy was that he relied upon Democratic votes to pass the continuing resolution to keep the federal government in operation beyond the Sept. 30 end of the fiscal year. Gaetz and company preferred to “shut it down” and to allow lines at TSA checkpoints to balloon while they waited for Joe Biden and Chuck Schumer to cave. 

Gaetz’s position, clear and simple, is that McCarthy is not allowed to use Democratic votes to pass important legislation — but Gaetz had no problem using Democratic votes to remove McCarthy, 208 Democratic votes, to be exact.

His hypocrisy truly knows no bounds.

At some point — I hope in the near future — even the most conservative members of the Republican Party, including elected officials and grassroots activists, must realize that Democrats control the White House and the Senate. That means to actually implement any policy through legislation requires agreement from at least some Democrats. That is the manner in which our constitution designed the legislative process to work.

In the meantime, 4% of the Republican members of the House, in consortium with 100% of the far-left wing Democratic members of the House, have succeeded in painting a vivid picture of the Republican Party as a juvenile band of incompetents.

It may be possible for Republicans to recover prior to the 2024 election, but I doubt it.

Kevin Igoe was chief of staff of the Maryland Department of Budget and Management from 2015 to 2023 under then-Gov. Larry Hogan (R). A long-time political consultant, he is a former deputy chief of staff of the Republican National Committee, former executive director of the Maryland Republican Party, and was a member of the Bush-Cheney 2000 Florida Recount Team and a Reagan White House appointee.